The Review Planning & Monitoring (RPM) meeting with States and State Power Utilities was held on 23rd & 24th January 2023 at New Delhi, under the chairmanship of Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy R. K. Singh, in the presence of Krishan Pal, Minister of State for Power and Secretary (Power).
R.K.Singh appreciated the efforts made by all the stakeholders in addressing AT&C loss in the country, which has resulted in overall reduction of AT&C losses by 5% in FY 2021-22. He recognized the efforts made by States, who have achieved more than 3% reduction in AT&C losses from FY 2020-21 to FY 2021-22, and appreciated the initiatives taken to meet such reduction. These States include Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura and West Bengal. Few States like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Uttarakhand were also appreciated for steadily maintaining their losses within reasonable limits. Further, the States that have not been able to improve on their losses were advised to take up measures for achieving loss reduction targets under RDSS.
The Minister stressed on the need to address inefficiencies in distribution sector with priority on reduction of losses, maintaining proper subsidy accounts, energy accounting and to ensure prepaid smart metering implementation to enhance revenue realization and thereby avoiding undesirable borrowings. Various aspects related to financial viability of power sector and issues related to fiscal discipline and payment of dues towards GENCOs were also deliberated.
